You pop the plastic top off that fresh new can of peanuts, peel off that aluminum lid that seals the nuts from going stale, and dig in without thinking about it.

But that magical metal lid, tough enough to keep contaminants and air out but fragile enough to be peeled back by a child eager to get to his drink mix, came from somewhere. And for millions of lids, that somewhere is Wausau — a factory on Wausau’s west side, to be more specific.

That’s where a company called Sonoco Phoenix — no relation to Sunoco, the energy and oil company — churns out lids for packages containing stuff you eat and drink every day, made by some of the largest corporations in the world.

It all happens under the watchful eye of Wausau plant manager Dina Martin:

Question: What does your business do and why is it special?

Answer: Our facility is about 48,000 square feet and we have about 24 pieces of metal-end-making equipment. What we make are the top and bottom lids that you’d see on paper-cardboard composite cans. What primarily goes into the containers we supply these ends for are powered beverage drinks, powdered infant formula, nuts, pet snacks and more. Sonoco works very closely with Nestle Foods, Proctor & Gamble and Kraft.

Q: Why have you chosen central Wisconsin as a place to do business?

A: This was one of five plants that were owned by a previous company. It was a good fit for Sonoco to acquire because of the different products they made. This location in particular was attractive because of the equipment that applies this membrane to the metal ring.

Q: What’s your long-term vision for the company?

A: We’ve already achieved a lot of what we wanted to accomplish but we want to continue to grow and have a bigger presence. We’re part of a smaller group within Sonoco that makes these metal ends, called Sonoco Phoenix, and we want to continue to grow that part of the company as much as we can.

Q: Tell us how your business connects with other companies in the region and around the world.

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A: These lids and ends that we make get shipped to companies that will actually apply them to the container and then fill the product. We have around 30 plants around the country that are in our division ... and we supply 16 or 17 of them with product. We also directly supply many plants in Europe, Asia and South America as well. Sonoco as a whole has about 350 plants around the world. We’re in 34 different countries and supply our products to about 85 different nations.

Q: What skills and training are needed to work here and how might a prospective employee go about acquiring those skills?

A: Our production employees go through an in-house training program because our equipment is unique. They’re trained on the safe-operating procedures, how to operate the equipment overall, the quality requirements for the products and how to package it for shipment. There are some positions that we’d prefer already have certain skills, like how to drive a forklift, but we do train everyone on our in-house training.